Stuff pride. Forget being a spoiler. The Nets have something meaningful to play for as they trudge toward the end of their fifth straight losing season.

Call it the future. Call it Development 101. Call it what you want, but the growth and maturing of rookies MarShon Brooks and Jordan Williams plus the continued NBA education of free-agent-to-be Gerald Green is a real, viable goal in the final games.

“That’s what you’re looking for when the season is going like this.We’re out of the playoffs so the games really don’t matter,” said Deron Williams, who had 12 points and 14 assists. “But it does to those guys, especially when they’re getting time and learning how to play and getting the minutes they need.”

So the learning and the minutes continued. Unfortunately for the Nets, so did the losing. One night after damaging the Sixers’ playoff plans in Philadelphia, the Nets played in a hostile home environment that had lots of green in the stands — but a supportive Jets coach Rex Ryan courtside — and battled the Atlantic Division-leading Celtics before being limited to just 34 second-half points and falling, 94-82, at Prudential Center.

Despite the loss, the young guys again were impressive. Green and Brooks combined for 28 points. Jordan Williams notched his first career double-double (12 points, personal best 14 rebounds).

“It felt good,” Jordan Williams said. “Like I’ve been saying the past couple of games, my confidence’s been going up. My teammates have been doing a great job of getting me the ball, and I just want to get out there and prove that I should be out there.”

Make no mistake, the Nets are trying to win as many games as possible, but development overrides.

“I don’t think [Johnson] looks down our bench and is afraid to put people in at any moment. When you have a coach like that, it’s always good to play for him,” Green said.

“I learned a lot,” Brooks said. “I got a chance to be the point guard. I’m a shooting guard, got to play some small forward. Now it’s just becoming the best player I can going forward.”

Boston, without Ray Allen (ankle), got 21 points, 12 rebounds from Kevin Garnett, 18 and 11 from Brandon Bass, 15 assists from Rajon Rondo and defense from everybody as they extended their Atlantic lead over the Knicks and Sixers to 3 ½ games.

Winning the division is nice, coach Doc Rivers said, but he would prefer playoff health.

“I would love to have home court,” Rivers said, “but at the end of the day if you told me we would lose home court but we would be healthy and playing well, I’ll take that right now because at the end of the day we are going to have home court for one round.”